Best Children's Books of 2017; Authors Celebrate Halloween

[PW Children's Bookshelf: Breaking children's and YA publishing news, author interviews, bestsellers lists and reviews.] [The Last Kids on Earth Series by Douglas Holgate and Max Brallier]( In the Spotlight [Best Children's and YA Books 2017]( Here we present Publishers Weekly’s selections for the top 50 books of the year: picture books, fiction, YA, nonfiction, poetry, and comics for readers of all ages and interests. [more]( [Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers, Illustrated by Shawn Harris]( Happy Halloween! [Picture Book Creators Summon the Halloween Spirit]( Spooky tales, playful costumes, and copious amounts of candy make Halloween a favorite time for children and children's book creators alike. We spoke with three authors and illustrators who have new holiday-themed books this season, about drawing ideas from their personal love of the celebration. [more]( [Lemony Snicket Shares Spooky Reads]( A Series of Unfortunate Events author Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) has rounded up 10 of his favorite Halloween-themed books for children and adults. Here, we collect Snicket’s picks, along with our own annotations. [more]( [Scholastic Partners with Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF]( In celebration of Halloween and the 25th anniversary of R.L. Stine's bestselling Goosebumps series, Scholastic has teamed up with Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF on the #BeScaryGood campaign. Children who take part in the initiative can collect funds for UNICEF’s emergency relief work as they go door to door trick-or-treating. [more]( In the News [NaNoWriMo Is Big for Writers—And Helps Publishers, Too]( Each November for the past 18 years, thousands of writers have taken on the National Novel Writing Month challenge: to create a draft of a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. This year, NaNoWriMo expects up to 350,000 aspiring writers to join the writing marathon. [more]( [In Memorandum - Iona Opie] On the Scene [Picture Book Trio Launches 'Think Big' Tour]( Last month, HarperCollins author-illustrators Tom Sullivan (l.), Michael Hall, and Marcie Colleen teamed up for school visits in six cities across the country. In keeping with the author's latest books, the tour encouraged students to think about the core building blocks of storytelling. We’ve put together some highlights from the events, which featured storytimes, signings, and more. [more]( SPONSORED [PW KidsCast: Listen Now]( Francisco X. Stork, Andrea Beaty, Dan Santat, Julie Fogliano, Christian Robinson, Philip C. Stead, Matthew Cordell – listen to these and other top writers and artists discuss their new books for children and teens in the PW KidsCast podcast. [Click here]( to listen. For more about these and other great jobs, visit the new [PW JobZone]( now with resume hosting and more! - [Director, Gift & Special Sales - Baker & Taylor Publisher Services - Westchester](. - [Senior Print Designer - The Quarto Group - Bellevue](. - [Editorial Director, Juvenile - The Quarto Group - Bellevue](. - [NEIBA Executive Director - New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA) - Cambridge](. - [Managing Editor, Yale University Press - Yale University - New Haven](. Rights Report Janine O'Malley at Farrar, Straus and Giroux has acquired, at auction, in a two-book deal, Hafsah Faizal's debut novel, We Hunt the Flame. Faizal has designed numerous author websites through her company, Icey Designs; she submitted her manuscript via the Twitter pitchfest #DVPit. The #ownvoices YA fantasy, set in a world inspired by ancient Arabia, follows Zafira, a young woman who must disguise herself as a man to seek a lost artifact that could return magic to her cursed world. Publication is set for spring 2019; John Cusick at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management brokered the deal for world English rights. Nicole Ellul at Simon Pulse has bought two YA titles by Jenn Bennett. In Serious Moonlight, a mystery aficionado spends the summer before college knee-deep in both intrigue and a romance with her charismatic co-worker while working the night shift in a Seattle hotel. The book is scheduled for 2019, with the second novel to follow in 2020; Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency negotiated the two-book deal for North American rights. Karen Greenberg at Knopf has acquired It's a Whole Spiel, a YA anthology by Jewish writers, edited by Katherine Locke (l.) and Laura Silverman. With contributions from #ownvoices authors including David Levithan, Nova Ren Suma, and more, the anthology will contain contemporary stories with Jewish protagonists who are diverse in sexuality, ability, race, and level of religious observance. Publication is planned for fall 2019; Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourrett represented Silverman, and Louise Fury at the Bent Agency represented Locke for world rights. Rhoda Belleza at Imprint has bought Tiny Pretty Things author Sona Charaipotra's Prognosis: Love & Death. Pitched as The Mindy Project meets Grey's Anatomy, the YA contemporary novel follows a 16-year-old girl genius, the youngest M.D. in America, as she navigates an oncology internship, her big Indian family, and falling for a guitar-toting skater boy. The catch: he's her patient. The novel is slated for spring 2019; Victoria Marini at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency did the deal for world English rights, on behalf of CAKE Literary. Sara Goodman at St. Martin's/Wednesday Books has acquired North American rights to the YA crime novel Mayhem by This Raging Light author Estelle Laure. The 1980s-set story is pitched as The Lost Boys meets The Craft with a touch of the Manson Family. Publication is set for spring/summer 2019; Emily van Beek at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management handled the deal. Calista Brill at Roaring Brook has bought The Princess in the Piazza, a YA novel from Ben Hatke, author of the Zita the Spacegirl series. The book follows Sebastian, an American teenager spending the summer in Italy, who falls in love with a Renaissance princess who has been dead for 500 years, and finds himself swept up in her ages-old conflict with a sinister wizard. Publication is scheduled for 2019; Judy Hansen at Hansen Literary brokered the deal for world rights. Natashya Wilson at Harlequin Teen has acquired Abigail Johnson's new book, Even If I Fall, about a figure skater coping with her brother's murder conviction while falling for the last person she ever expected: the victim's brother. Publication is slated for winter 2019; Kim Lionetti at BookEnds Literary Agency negotiated the two-book deal for world rights. Carolyn Yoder at Calkins Creek has bought, at auction, Jennifer Robin Barr's middle grade debut, Goodbye, Mr. Spalding, the story of a boy and his best friend who need to stop the Philadelphia A's from building the "Spite Fence" along right field in Shibe Park and prevent the loss of income from the families' rooftop bleachers across the street. The book is set against the backdrop of baseball's Golden Era and the Great Depression. Publication is planned for spring 2019; Tracy Marchini at BookEnds did the deal for world English rights. Stacy Whitman at Tu Books has acquired world rights to Indian No More by debut author Charlene Willing McManis. In the middle grade novel set in the 1950s, a 10-year-old Umpqua girl and her family's tribal rights are terminated and they must relocate from their reservation in Oregon to Los Angeles, where they are expected to assimilate. Publication is scheduled for fall 2019; the author is unagented. Arianne Lewin at Putnam has bought, in a preempt, two picture books by Chan Lee and Marina Ahn, the husband-and-wife duo behind the Instagram account Drawings for My Grandchildren. The book will feature a grandfather using art to share life experiences and express love for his grandchildren living abroad. Publication for the first book is set for spring 2018; Penny Moore and Andrea Barzvi at Empire Literary negotiated the deal for world English rights. Christy Ottaviano at Holt/Ottaviano has acquired Camille Andros's (l.) Eliza's Story, a picture book biography about Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, co-founder and director of the first private orphanage in New York City, and wife of founding father Alexander Hamilton. Tessa Blackham will illustrate; publication is planned for 2019. Lori Kilkelly at Rodeen Literary Management represented both Andros and Blackham in the deal for world rights. Christianne Jones at Capstone has bought A Place for Pluto by Stef Wade (l.), a debut picture book that follows Pluto as he searches for his true identity in the solar system after being told he's no longer a planet. Melanie Demmer will illustrate; publication is slated for summer 2018. Christa Heschke at McIntosh and Otis represented the author for world rights, and James Burns at the Bright Agency represented the illustrator. Karen Wojtyla at S&S/McElderry has acquired world rights to Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker, a picture book in verse about the little-known African-American civil rights activist and co-worker of Martin Luther King, Jr., by Loving vs. Virginia author Patricia Hruby Powell. The book shows how Baker led grassroots efforts for civil rights, concentrating on the women of the South and registering voters. Caldecott Honor artist R. Gregory Christie will illustrate; publication is scheduled for fall 2019. Anna Olswanger at Olswanger Literary represented the author, and the illustrator was unagented. Tamar Brazis at Abrams has bought world English rights to two titles by author-illustrator Jennifer Thermes. Manhattan: The Story of an Island is the 400-year story of Manhattan Island told through maps, and how humans, history, and nature are always connected, even in a city of constant change. The Indestructible Tom Crean: Antarctic Hero is a picture book biography of Tom Crean, crew member of three Antarctic expeditions (including Shackleton's), who saved the lives of his fellow explorers through extraordinary efforts. The books are slated to be published in 2019 and 2020, respectively; Marietta B. Zacker at Nancy Gallt Literary Agency negotiated the deal. Karen Nagel at Aladdin has acquired world English rights to Barroux's The Run. In the story, a boy is reading a book on the toilet about animals on a mysterious dash through the jungle, and wonders where they are running to. Publication is planned for spring 2019; Lori Nowicki at Painted Words brokered the deal. Samantha Swenson at Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra has bought world rights to author-illustrator Anne Hunter's Where's Baby, the tale of a fox family searching for baby fox, only to find him in the most unexpected of places. The book is set for spring 2020; Rosemary Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio negotiated the deal. To see all of this week's deals, [click here](. IN THE MEDIA [From the Idaho Statesman:]( Judge denies request for a restraining order to stop the release of Silent Days, Silent Dreams by Allen Say. [Click here]( [From the New York Times:]( Hilde Lysiak, Reporter, Author, 10-Year-Old. [Click here]( [From School Library Journal:]( Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Latest Win Is for Teens. [Click here]( [From BU News Service:]( Book Lovers Flock to Copley Square for Boston Book Festival. [Click here]( [From the New York Times:]( Frog and Toad Are Memes: Juxtaposing the bucolic imagery of the books with darker internet humor. [Click here]( [From 100 Scope Notes:]( Book Creators Share Their Jobs #BeforeKidlit. [Click here]( [From Brightly:]( Eight YA Novels About Mental Illness. [Click here]( [From Fuse #8:]( Halloween Costumes with First Book: Go Big or Go Home. [Click here]( SHELFTALKER Elizabeth Bluemle [Publishers: Better Packing for Your Holiday Season]( A bookseller’s thoughts on saving time, sanity, money, and books – for busy publishers. [more »]( Meghan Dietsche Goel [Finding Time for Discovery]( Returning from the MPIBA Trade Show newly enchanted with ‘Robinson’ by Peter Sis. [more »]( Kenny Brechner [Dust in My Eyes]( Why has The Book of Dust not, at least here at our store, been the out of the box phenomenon I expected it to be? [more »]( Cynthia Compton [When the Children Are All Above Average, And Some Are Not]( Middle school kids are under pressure to achieve instead of to dream. [more »]( FEATURED REVIEWS [Elmore]( Holly Hobbie. Random House, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5247-1863-3 “Friends Wanted” reads the sign that Elmore, a self-sufficient but solitary porcupine, posts in the woods. There are no takers—everyone is scared of his quills. When Elmore’s uncle insists that his quills are “beautiful” and define who he is, Elmore is inspired. [more]( [My Friends Make Me Happy!]( Jan Thomas. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $9.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-544-96655-0 “Yay! Look who’s coming! My friends!” cheers Sheep on the title page of this high-energy addition to Thomas’s Giggle Gang series. After Donkey, Bear, and Duck show up, Sheep drops a question on them: “Can you guess what makes me happy?” Readers will probably infer the answer from the book’s title, but the other animals are stumped. [more]( [The Pink Umbrella]( Amélie Callot, trans. from the French by Tara Hinchberger, illus. by Geneviève Godbout. Tundra, $17.99 (80p) ISBN 978-1-101-91923-1 Understated text and gauzy pencil-and-pastel artwork transport readers to a seaside village where social life revolves around the Polka-Dot Apron, a café run by a young woman named Adele. “It’s where everyone meets,” writes French author Callot. Adele herself “is the village’s sun—lively, sweet and sparkling,” but her spirit plummets whenever the weather turns rainy. [more]( [Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind]( Cynthia Grady, illus. by Amiko Hirao. Charlesbridge, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58089-688-7 Grady recounts the true story of San Diego children’s librarian Clara Breed, who corresponded with her young Japanese-American patrons while they were interned during WWII. Excerpts from the children’s letters appear as small signed postcards that overlay many of Hirao’s colored-pencil illustrations. “Books make the day shorter and happier for us,” one postcard declares; others offer upsetting glimpses into camp life. [more]( [The Journey of Little Charlie]( Christopher Paul Curtis. Scholastic Press, $16.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-545-15666-0 Echoing themes found in Curtis’s Newbery Honor–winning Elijah of Buxton, this exceedingly tense novel set in 1858 provides a very different perspective on the business of catching runaway slaves. Eking out a living as South Carolina sharecroppers, the Bobo family knows hard luck. After 12-year-old Charlie’s father is killed in a freak accident, Charlie reluctantly agrees to pay off his father’s debt by accompanying a plantation overseer on a hunt for three runaways. [more]( October 31, 2017 E-mail not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( [Silent Days, Silent Dreams by Allen Say]( [The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade]( [Transform Your Challenges Into Opportunities]( PeopleSarah Dotts Barley has been promoted to executive editor and editorial director for young adult books at Flatiron Books; she was previously senior editor. [Rachel Horowitz](mailto:Rachel@thebentagency.com) has joined the Bent Agency as a literary agent, specializing in both children's and commercial adult fiction. Most recently she was a children's literary scout at Maria B. Campbell Associates. [Alli Brydon](mailto:allibrydoncreative@gmail.com) has launched Alli Brydon Creative, a children's book editing and consulting business. She was formerly with Bright USA, and before that at Sterling Publishing. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has five promotions. Emma Ledbetter has been promoted to senior editor at Atheneum Books, from editor. Navah Wolfe has been promoted to senior editor at SAGA Press, from editor. Liz Kossnar has been promoted to editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, from associate editor. Alexa Pastor has been promoted to associate editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, from assistant editor. Alex Borbolla has been promoted to assistant editor at Caitlin Dlouhy Books, from editorial assistant. Bestsellers [Children's Frontlist Fiction]( #1 Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. [Click here]( [Picture Books]( #1 Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, illus. by Axel Scheffler. [Click here]( Follow Us Children's Bookshelf is on [Instagram]( Please follow us @pwkidsbookshelf. Bookshelf Archives Looking for a previous issue of Children's Bookshelf? [Click here]( see our archives page! CONTACT US Have a comment or suggestion? We'd love to hear from you. [Click here](mailto:childrensbooks@publishersweekly.com) to drop us a note. 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